IMAGES OF A MIND for 'cello and piano (1986)
The inspiration for Images of a Mind came from the great Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan, who died in 1992. Nolan lived and painted at his home near Presteigne on the Welsh border. Often the composer would come to his home to play the piano and compose. On one occasion Williams noticed a newly-painted self-portrait of Nolan as a young man which had been left to dry. He was so struck by it that during the period of work at the piano which followed, ideas for a new work for cello began to appear which seemed to him to reflect very personally the psyche of the artist. Nolan himself was deeply moved by the work which eventually appeared, saying that it revealed secrets he would long remember.
The first performance, at the 1986 Presteigne Festival, was given by Alexander Baillie accompanied by the composer. Baillie and Williams subsequently recorded it for a film to celebrate the 70th birthday of Sidney Nolan, another film entitled 'Images of a Mind" for Minerva Vision and S4C and also for BBC radio 3. Later the work was taken up by Raphael Wallfisch who performed it, also with the composer, again at Presteigne, in 1992, in the presence of the artist less than two months before his death. Wallfisch and John York gave it its Aldeburgh Festival debut in 1993.
Recorded on Metronome CD1028, Raphael Wallfisch with the composer.
DURATION 16'
(Eschig)